The head of a network of former members of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi has offered to hand over computer files to a Virginia circuit court after being sued by the religious order.
Paul Lennon, president of the nonprofit organization ReGAIN, appeared before the Circuit Court of Alexandria Aug. 22 during a seizure hearing.
Glenn Favreau, a former member of the Legionaries and a member of ReGAIN, told Catholic News Service Aug. 28 that the court accepted Lennon's offer. No further steps have been taken in the case against Lennon and ReGAIN, Favreau said.
The Legionaries are suing Lennon and ReGAIN to recover what the order claims is private property and to deter what it said is improper use of stolen materials.
The complaint said ReGAIN, "along with other co-conspirators, have intentionally taken out of context excerpts from ... stolen materials and posted them on the Internet as part of a concerted effort to wage a malicious disinformation campaign against the Legion."
The complaint, dated Aug. 2, was posted on the Web site of ReGAIN, which offers information about alleged problems associated with the Legionaries and Regnum Christi, an apostolic Catholic movement associated with the Legionaries. ReGAIN stands for Religious Groups Awareness International Network.
In May 2006 the Vatican said the founder of the Legionaries, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, should not exercise his priestly ministry publicly after he was accused of sexually abusing minors. Father Maciel founded the Legionaries in his native Mexico in 1941.
